Park Your Plow: 5 Tips for the No-Till-Curious

Reduced erosion. Saved time and fuel. Improved nutrient cycling, soil moisture, and resiliency in the face of drought. You likely already know the potential benefits of no-till.No-till farmers grow crops with minimal disturbance to their fields and the organisms that call them home. This builds healthier soils while reducing money spent on fuel and labor – a win-win.With harvest season winding down, you’re no doubt making an important decision for your working land. Will you hook up the plow, or is this the year you’ll park it for good? If you’d like to try no-till, we wrote this for you.

Plowing isn’t the only way to prepare a field for next spring’s planting.Evenly distribute residue that will be left in the field while harvesting your cash crop to manage against erosion and allow for a uniform breakdown of nutrients and organic matter. Residue can provide a valuable base of cover for your ground over winter.

Prepare for a successful spring planting with an even distribution of residue left over from your fall harvest. Photo Credit: Jason Johnson, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

Don’t forget about cover crops.

Farmers traditionally till to break up soil and prepare seedbeds. Over time, tillage can degrade structure and create highly compacted soils that seemingly “need” to be tilled before spring planting.Plant cool-season cover crops to reduce compaction, build organic matter, and hold your soil in place. Make sure to pick a cover crop species or mix that compliments your cash crop.If you’re starting with a highly-compacted field, use cover crop species that are meant to break up compaction. Daikon radish is often one great option.

Simple but critical: Plan before you buy.Will you plant next year’s cash crop into green cover, terminated cover, or fall residue? Will you drill or broadcast your seeds? Your operation may change over time, but establishing working goals now will keep you from buying equipment you don’t ultimately want.Some USDA service centers have no-till drills and other equipment you can rent for minimal fees to get started. All offices are staffed with experts who’d be happy to talk through your specific management goals.

Think about how you’ll terminate your cover and plant your cash crop next spring. Using a roller crimper with a no-till drill is just one option. Photo Credit: Jason Johnson, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

Treat no-till adoption as a marathon, not a sprint. Track results along the way.

Building healthy, resilient soil takes time. Some farmers report yield increases after their first year of no-till, but that shouldn’t be your main goal. You can quantify several economic benefits of switching to no-till: fuel savings, time savings, eventual fertilizer reductions. By tracking these measures along with changes in yield, you’ll gain a truer sense of the impact of no-till across your operation.Have your soil tested at least once every four years and conduct your own informal assessments regularly.

Take note of the life inside of your soil, and how it changes over time. Healthy soils are generally full of earthworms and other organisms. Photo Credit: Colette Kessler, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

Give us a visit. We’re here to help.

Stop by your local service center to learn more about integrating no-till and other conservation practices into your management plan. We’re here to help you reach conservation goals that support your farm’s production needs.

Visit your local USDA service center today to get started with a conservation plan for your working land. Photo Credit: Jason Johnson, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

Farmers across the country have reduced erosion, held valuable nutrients in-field, saved money on fuel, and increased their soil’s resiliency by minimizing tillage.

Is this the year you’ll try no-till? If so, having a strong plan in place will help you leave your plow parked for good.

Elizabeth Creech is a public affairs specialist serving USDA's Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Risk Management Agency. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Give Your Farm a Rugged, Natural Look

Many farmers till during the fall. This year, we encourage you not to. Leave it be, let it grow. Save time, money and improve your soil’s health by joining the farmers who observe “No-Till November.”The idea for No-Till November came to Neil Sass, an agronomist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “I’m always thinking about new ways to talk about soil health,” Sass said. “I thought ‘Hey, No-Shave November is a good way to highlight men’s health, why not promote No-Till November as a way to highlight Soil Health?’ It seemed like a pretty good fit.”The analogy does fit. Soil is like the skin of the farm: it’s a nourishing barrier for what grows above and beneath. But whereas a shaving razor stops at the surface of the skin, tillage rips into the soil and can inflict harm.“Tillage is a dramatic thing with respect to the soils,” said Sass. “For everything living in the soil, it’s akin to an earthquake, tornado and fire happening, all at the same time.”Why is the practice still so popular? “It’s just something we’ve always done,” he said. Tillage has been practiced for generations, which means it can be accepted uncritically as a necessary part of farming. That used to be true, but not anymore.As Sass explains, “We had to till for a while, just to grow crops. We didn’t have equipment and tools for weed control or preparation of the seed bed.” But steady advances in technology since the 1970s – both in farming equipment and crop genetics – mean that tillage is no longer necessary.Repeated tillage undermines soil structure and reduces aggregate stability; it breaks down organic matter and drains carbon from the soil.“Sometimes we say quitting tillage is like quitting smoking,” said Sass. “It’s hard. Even when you know the costs, quitting is hard.”No-till is one of the key practices of soil health management systems. According to Sass, the benefits of no-till grow over time and spread far beyond your farm. With no-till, you can improve water quality through prevented erosion. Your soil structure will remain intact, able to absorb more water and handle heavy rain. No-till keeps your soil on your field and out of the watershed.And if those aren’t enough reasons to “keep the stubble,” Sass proffers some bottom line benefits for farmers, too: No-till will save you time and money. You’ll spend less time on your tractor. You’ll use less fuel. You’ll have less wear and tear on your equipment. No-till is a win-win for your soil and for your pocketbook.“When you have the support of trillions of microbes, you can grow more with less,” Sass said.This fall, consider the benefits of no-till through the lenses of soil health, water quality, economics and beneficial microbes. NRCS helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners plan and implement a wide variety of conservation practices, including no-till.To learn more about available conservation practices, contact your local USDA Service Center. You can also learn more on NRCS’ Soil Health webpage.

(Left): A no-tillage corn field after a week of 0.5 to 1.5 inch scattered rain showers in Northwest Iowa. (Right): A conventional tillage corn field after a week of 0.5 to 1.5 inch scattered rain showers in NW Iowa.